Score: 8

"Definitely a something."

submission: LoL: Oh Yes And Spiders

date: August 22, 2009

Tons of props for originality, custom animations, and a lack of immature humor. More animations should be like this, I think. I like how it seems to be inspired by the old LoZ cartoon show, but greatly improves upon that program's near-unwatchability.

Can't give you a ten, however, as it's just not laugh-out-loud funny. I think it suffers from lackluster voiceacting and ill-polished comedic timing. I think you could make it a lot more snappy by working on that mumbling monotone Link and some of the guards seem to possess, and just generally working on the pacing. For the amount of humor in this episode, it shouldn't have been 28 minutes long.

Sprite and Zelda are fairly well done, and I really enjoyed the bit about slavery. Bonus points for the disclaimer at the loading screen.

Score: 4

"Time-waster."

submission: Brawl Funnies [Dick 1]

date: May 7, 2009

Oy.

It amazes me that an actual well-thought out point about the recent flood of brawl spoofs can be executed so poorly with respect to humor, even when it tries to take advantage of its own hypocrisy. This was beyond painful for me to watch. I haven't been this shocked, grossed out, and borderline offended since I tried to watch the MGS collaboration.

If you guys truly believe that Brawl Taunts and the rest are so incredibly unfunny, then why does your own animation fall so short of making me laugh? Almost every short is so lengthy, ill-timed, and explanatory that there really isn't any hope of it being humorous. It's as though you tried to make build a skit out of a political cartoon-style pun, then drew it out and elaborated on it so much that it begins to feel more like a lecture than a zing.

Likewise, why so many jabs at other artist's use of lowbrow humor? It's one thing to try and say that someone's work is a collection of fart/penis jokes (which may very well be a valid point), but if your next gag is a graphic depiction of 'Meet N Fuck Brawl,' then you've lowered yourself far further than your competition. I wonder if you can really call this a "collaboration" at all, as it seems like you all made this in separate rooms, then called in a neutral party to glue it together. There's no consistency.

The worst thing about all this is that I feel like I share a similar mindset with your message. YES, 90% or more of what Newgrounds artists create are immature, talentless pieces of crud, YES we should make fun of people who believe this kind of thing is funny, but MAN the thing you've just released is horrible by comparison. It makes Brawl Taunts look like There She Is! I've never been so embarrassed to be of the same viewpoint as someone else.

All that aside, rtil's stuff stands out like a fresh-baked chocolate eclair atop a pile of stale, week-old Krispy Kremes, and I don't think I need to say why (but I will anyway: strength of animation). Why is a such a gifted animator in this collaboration, and submitting a skit that has nothing to do with the rest of the piece? Do yourself a favor and don't associate yourself with these people's work from now on.

Score: 5

"Not really a puzzle game."

submission: The Enrichment Center

date: April 22, 2009

The exciting thing about puzzle/adventure games is trying to see if you can figure out what to do, and feeling good about it when your train of thought proved correct. These challenges in the game need to vary in both difficulty and medium, so as to cater equally to all types of thinkers.

Your game is just a series of identical doors, each leading to instant death or an eternal purgatory of random clicking and false hope. Every puzzle is exactly the same, the only difference between them all are the answers and the clues, the latter of which range from the painfully obvious (3 2 1) to the frustratingly obtuse (what the hell am I supposed to do HERE?).

The ideal experience should put you in the mindset that you're being manipulated by someone much smarter and more organized than yourself, not that you're playing a game thrown together as quickly as possible, using obscure clues and apparently randomly-generated sequences of fatal choices rather than their own cleverness to stump the player. That's false difficulty.